


HAUNTING

by ImLittleSparrow



Category: Taboo (TV 2017)
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fiction, Multi, Murderers, Taboo, Taboo TV 2017, Witchcraft
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 07:38:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19807723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImLittleSparrow/pseuds/ImLittleSparrow
Summary: One conceived, one created. Robert is determined to find out if Zilpha was his mother after years of rumours and the return of Gabriel, the son of James Delaney who had sought out an adventure similar to his father's African voyage but Gabriel too returned more damaged with a haunting psychic ability of which he wants to use in order to help his father survive the coming troubles for the family Nootka Trading Company. And could Gabriel's daughter be a means to an end for James?





	HAUNTING

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I do not own the copyright to any Taboo characters (Sadly) all characters belong to their rightful owners, the creators of Taboo. Apart from Gabriel who is my own. Each chapter to be posted is a One Shot & I hope someone enjoys :) Also further tags will be added as I post each Chapter. I don't quite like the idea of let's say tagging Godders but the character doesn't arrive until the third chapter.

A sigh from Gabriel as he gently placed down the letter on the desk to grab another. A worn wooden top cluttered with various papers kept just far enough from the spilt ink pot that had oozed close to the edge. His long dull coloured shirt covered enough of his upper half but scarring still present from under a low collar, appearing as if an expanding chest from breathing would still be causing great pain as it attempted to stretch already taut skin. “He is a Delaney. You're expecting too much, Robert."  
“Please, Gabriel.”  
“You where conceived Robert. I was created. Nature Vs. Nurture may always play a part. When I was five years old I paid three men with gold I had stolen to string my father's horse to a tree, upside down. I then slit the horse's throat and stood beneath it like warm rain. When you were five years old, Robert, you where stroking white lambs.”  
***  
A shallow firepit flicked light across James as he sat on the shore amongst the rubble of old boats and seaweed. Legs folded as the sea-water drew closer and here he would sit every night until the tide came in and put out the fire. Talking in an unrecognisable language before looking up at the night sky, the moon and a dream of stars but no such thing existed in the polluted city of London, still, he would chant to the skies before bringing his attention back to the flames of the fire and gentle rushing of waves rolling over one another.  
‘You, sit and you speak to the sea much how your father did to you.’ Came a young, masculine voice but James didn’t move to look in the direction of it. He had heard this voice before, he knew this voice but never was there a person to accompany it. Still, he allowed himself the warmth of the fire as he gazed into the red, cracking wood and growing ash pile. ‘ I heard you, father. I always heard you.’ James slowly raised himself to his bare feet, dampened pants and sand-dusted blue shirt that hung long on his body. Turning around to confront the voice dressed in black. ‘What is the last thing I asked of you?’ James said as he stared at the young man, dark haired, blue eyed, broad just like himself. ‘You asked for me to return home.’  
‘Hm.’ Moving past James to stand closer to the flames of the fire as the water drew closer towards them the young man knelt, removing the tattered leather glove from his hand only to reveal scarring, almost deformed fingers from the severity that had a raw redness, unlike his pale, untouched face. He held the limb over the flames. ‘I returned two moons ago father, paid the whores to stay quiet. And I sat amongst them much how I did as a boy and just like then I wondered which of the illiterate whores could be my mother. If I had slept with her.’ Moving his hand away from the flames as James looked over him, watching, examining the young man as if one of the spirits he was far too used to encountering. ‘I wouldn’t put it past a whore for a shilling or more extra than she was expecting.’ Said James as the boy moved slowly with the direction of the flames amongst the light breeze that brought a chill from the sea. ‘ I assure you assumed me dead how your father did of you. I believed I had died also.’ He placed the glove back over his hand. ‘My ship met a storm that sunk us. The island I washed up upon didn’t treat me well. Though each night I watched the tribe dance and chant around their fires. Fires of which in I saw the past, present and future.’ He looked towards James, a slight tilt of his head at the man he hadn’t seen for so many years. ‘In the flames I saw you sitting here, talking to me.’ The water rushed over the fire causing a blink to darkness. ‘What is it that you’re trying to say, Gabriel?’ Asked James as he watched Gabriel rise to his feet. ‘‘I know my mother was not a whore.’  
‘How did you get home, boy?’  
‘ What bastard did you pay after they dragged her from the Thames to mutilate her body in order to find out if a demon laid inside.’  
‘You’re confused. You left thinking you were a madman much like myself at your age and returned with something special.’ Gabriel shook his head ‘And what about Robert?’ A fist of James swung, clashing with a tight jaw that made Gabriel stumble in the sand, lose his footing against water, landing in sludge. The look of a damaged child struck blue eyes that glistened in the moonlight. Eyes that now screamed a trust that hadn’t been broken before, a pain never felt. ‘We shall not speak of Robert in any manner other than what you have been told.’ James said, an order between teeth and a fist that was now fighting itself not to strike again ‘War is coming.’ Said Gabriel. ‘I do not wish to fight you. The Company are going to get caught father, they are doing things they should not and the Chinese are close to discovering their ways. The Chinese will stop trade with Nootka Sound.’  
‘Stand, boy.’  
‘Do you see her? When you look at me? Cause even after all these years you look at me as if you love something that you will never get to touch again.’  
‘Fucking stand.’ James spat with his words, staring down at Gabriel. ‘Hard times are coming father and not just war. First I must hear it from your mouth.’  
‘Do as you are told and stand.’ The order would echo the darkness around them but even with demanding words, Gabriel would only respond slowly, tormenting the supposed anger. Once on his feet, James paced forward until they stood forehead to forehead. A grunt leaving him before arms wrapped around Gabriel of which he grasped with his own. ‘I get to touch her, every time I hold you my boy; I touch her, I see her.’ Gabriel had slipped a glove off his hand in the process, pressing crimped skin to the back of James’s head leaving him to cling harder with a grunt and a gasp he struggled for breath that wheezed against Gabriel's neck. Allowing visions of the near future to haunt his mind.


End file.
